Narcotrafficking 101 in a Bolivia under evo …

An striking editorial from El Deber, picture at the bottom is what any google search shows when we look for cocaine in Bolivia:

The fight against drug trafficking

An ambush of Umopar policemen in Chapare, carried out by cocaleros of a union in alliance with drug traffickers, has been one of the most disturbing news on a national scale in recent days because it raises questions that, despite the operatives, do not end up being answered.

The event happened last week. The troops of Umopar tried to prevent a drug operation and were attacked with modern and heavy weapons. Not only that, a group of peasants prevented two wounded uniformed (who were bleeding) from being helped immediately, because they surrounded the patrol and threatened it, questioning them to leave the jungle and not the roads, as if the police had than to ask for permission to fulfill the task of fighting against drug trafficking.

Six days later, the government minister presented 10 detainees, on the basis of testimonies, a video that circulated on social networks and operatives. However, there are also fugitives, including number two of the drug gang. Meanwhile, the MAS proposes to question this authority for the facts, which raises even more questions.

First, how can it be possible that rifles, shotguns, revolvers and pistols of a high caliber and of high complexity are being used by drug traffickers in the Chapare area and others in the country? Where are the controls? What are we facing?

Second, in the area 13 cocaine factories were found, one of crystallization, four kilos of drugs. Official reports indicate that there are several factories in the Cochabamba tropics every day. This has a component that aggravates the situation and is that, long ago, that Chapare is a territory where the unions of coca growers have more control than the police themselves and that they already felt their power on several occasions, the most notable when they prevented the passage from an international tribunal to Tipnis. Until when will it be allowed?

The third element that deserves an answer is the scope of the conflict of interests that this reality poses to President Evo Morales, who is the maximum leader of the Chapare coca growers. Will he be able to renounce his union status to govern based on the interest of all Bolivians? Will he be able to exercise a firm hand in an area where his main political support is concentrated?

The first mandatary has not yet pronounced on the ambush to the police, but he has once again highlighted the fight against drug trafficking and has said he will present it on an international scale. It will have to be evaluated if it is really producing such positive results, if in the tropics there are so many drug factories, if there are clandestine air strips and if there is insecurity for the work of the police.

This episode will not be resolved with 10 or 20 detainees or with the interpellation to the minister. The country demands that the president himself answer the questions.

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PLS be aware that in most cases, it is an English translation from original articles in Spanish. I will use these [brackets] to place inside the article my opinion or a clarifying remark. At the end of the article, right below the link of the original, I will place sometimes my view based on my professional experience.
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